Hot Topics:

Killer makes bid for parole in fatal shooting

By Lisa Redmond, lredmond@lowellsun.com

Updated:
04/27/2016 07:27:35 AM EDT

Matthew Lavoie at Tuesday's Parole Board hearing. SUN/Lisa Redmond

NATICK -- Hoping for freedom after 15 years in prison, convicted killer Matthew Lavoie sat before the state Parole Board and blamed his accomplice for the 2001 fatal shooting and incineration of Westley VaanAnen in Townsend.

Lavoie, 36, formerly of Fitchburg, told the Parole Board on Tuesday that co-defendant Kevin Fuller fatally shot a sleeping VaanAnen, 29, in the 4 Sumac Drive home on March 7, 2001.

Lavoie told the board he helped Fuller wrap the body and drive it to Caswell Road in Fitchburg, where they dumped it and set it on fire to hide the evidence.

The board noted that Lavoie, who admitted to being a drug addict, has changed his story. Lavoie confessed to police that he shot VaanAnen three times when Fuller and his girlfriend, Samantha Litalien, couldn't pull the trigger.

The motive for the murder was VaanAnen's quarter-kilogram of cocaine and $1,300 in cash. After the murder, the trio used the dead man's drugs to party, prosecutors said.

Despite his recantation, Lavoie told the Parole Board that he takes responsibility for his role in the murder.

Prosecutors charged Lavoie with first-degree murder. A jury convicted Lavoie of second-degree murder as a joint-venturer.

"I don't think I am innocent. I am just as guilty as the person who fired the shots," Lavoie told the board.

Turning to VaanAnen's family, Lavoie apologized, telling them,"I carry a lot of guilt for the pain I caused your family... I'm ashamed of myself for what I did to another human being.

Advertisement

"

In a tearful apology, Lavoie's mother, Sharon, also apologized to VaanAnen's family. But she told the board she has waited 15 years to welcome her son home. She told the board he takes his life seriously, getting his high-school equivalency certificate, finishing counseling programs, attending Alcoholics Anonymous and completing a barber program.

Lavoie's father, Gerard, and sister, Selyna Locapo, blamed drug addiction. "If it wasn't for the drugs, none of us would be here today," he said.

And while Nicole Finan, VaanAnen's ex-girlfriend and the mother of his son, told the board that she believes in second chances, her son, who bears his father's name, grew up without a father. VaanAnen never got the chance to change his life for the better or to know his son, now grown, she said.

VaanAnen's son, Westley, who is the same age as his father was when he was murdered, told the board that he is hearing "a lot of excuses, blaming drugs, but I don't buy that."

In assessing his suitability for parole, board members noted Lavoie's 59 prison disciplinary reports, including throwing urine at a corrections officer (Lavoie alleges it was yellow pudding), an alleged escape plan, and being labeled a gang member.

"That's a high hurdle for a parole board and it's not a good resume of true rehabilitation," said Parole Board member Charlene Bonner.

Until he was about 16, Lavoie was a good student and athlete who would "give you the shirt off his back," his mother told the Parole Board. Then he fell in with the "wrong crowd" and drugs became his world, he said. His family sent him to rehab and hospitals, but he would relapse and return to drugs. Shortly before the murder, Lavoie relapsed and "I got really bad, really quick," he said.

He met VaanAnen, whom he had known, at a bar and they began "hanging out," he said. VaanAnen introduced Lavoie to Fuller and Litalien. VaanAnen was living in Fuller's house, along with Fuller's girlfriend. Lavoie would do drugs with them and sleep on the couch. Lavoie rejected speculation that he wanted to sleep with Litalien.

At the time of the murder, Lavoie said there was "no friction, no fights." But the night before VaanAnen was killed, the group used cocaine and drank alcohol, he said. Lavoie told the board he fell asleep and awoke to Fuller and Litalien arguing. Litalien held a gun. Then he heard a gun shot. Fuller had shot VaanAnen. Lavoie checked VaanAnen's room and could see that he was hurt. Minutes later, Fuller went back into VaanAnen's room and shot him again, Lavoie told the board.

When a Parole Board member asked Lavoie if he tried to intervene or help VaanAnen, Lavoie said, "No."

The trio used drugs as they discussed what to do with the body. They packed up all of VaanAnen's things in trash bags and disposed of them. Then they rolled up his body in some blankets, put it in the back of Fuller's Jeep, drove to a less-traveled road, dumped the body and set it on fire.

The next morning, a passerby discovered the charred remains. A fingerprint was the only thing undamaged to identify VaanAnen, prosecutors said. A tire track distinctive to Fuller's Jeep led to police to his Sumac Drive home.

When asked why he helped dispose of the body when he says he didn't kill VaanAnen, Lavoie responded, "That's a question I ask myself everyday. I really don't know."

After the murder, the trio went on a three-day, drug-induced bender that ended when police knocked on their door.

Lavoie is serving life in prison with the possibility of parole. The Parole Board took his request for parole under advisement. If he is denied parole, Lavoie can ask for a hearing every five years.

Fuller and Litalien, both of Townsend, pleaded guilty to manslaughter. In 2004, Fuller, then 30, was sentenced to 15 to 18 years in prison, while Litalien was sentenced to 10 to 12 years.

Welcome to your discussion forum: Sign in with a Disqus account or your social networking account for your comment to be posted immediately, provided it meets the guidelines. (READ HOW.)
Comments made here are the sole responsibility of the person posting them; these comments do not reflect the opinion of The Sun. So keep it civil.